A recent episode of Katie Couric's syndicated talk show offers a pretty one-sided look at video game addiction, asking the question in the title: "Are Video Games to Blame for Violent Crimes?" Couric does mention that she asked the Entertainment Software Association to participate in the show or comment on its contents, but they did not respond to the request...

The show features Dr. Michael Welner, "one of America's top forensic psychiatrists"; Coleen Moore, "a counselor at The Illinois Institute for Addiction Recovery"; Former Colts Star Quinn Pitcock, who blames his Call of Duty addiction for ending his NFL career; and Common Sense Media CEO and Founder James Steyer.

With a line-up like this you can imagine where this conversation goes. There's a lot of talk about game addiction, but none of the guests happen to mention that the majority of mental health professionals in the world and the bodies that govern the definitions of addiction have refused to classify video game addiction as a real addiction. This certainly doesn't stop Couric's guest from talking about it as an addiction. They also talk about how video games cause people to be more aggressive. None of the guests are able to definitively answer the question in the title though and the results of the Supreme Court case Brown v. EMA comes up as well.

The most alarming comments come from Common Sense Media's founder, who claims that the video game industry is in denial about the affects of playing violent video games on children, comparing them to climate change deniers who are ignoring the science on video games.

You can watch the segment to your left.

The second segment below features Quinn Pitcock talking about his addiction to video games.

Really? I've never heard of this Quinn Pitcock ever before, I had to go look him on wikipedia to even find out anything about his football career. Seems that he was just a guy who isnt built for the NFL but decides to blame his problems on other things. Can anyone SERIOUSLY get addicted to Call Of Duty?!

Katie Couric is like any other Talk Show, they speak about sad motivational stories and cooking recipies or they do DNA tests to answer if that trashy redneck really is the father.

Only positive thing is that she didn't have everyone's favorite nut job Jack Thompson on the show. Probably cause even she knows sticking him on would make viewers realise she was BSing this

Katie might claim that they asked the ESA to take part, but why would they take part if they knew that it would be the same as every other tabloid trash TV talk show(an one-sided affair, as this one turned out to be).

Jim Steyer is the one who's really in denial since the research is showing more and more that the "fake 'violent' video games 'cause' real-life violence' scam he helps perpetuate is a myth and a falsehood.

Geaux Saints, Geaux Tigers, Geaux Pelicans. Solidarity for the Saints = No retreat, no surrender. 2013 = Saints' revenge on the NFL. Even through the darkest days, this fire burns always.